If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty.
Interpretation
Focusing on negativity can lead to inner ugliness, while seeking goodness promotes beauty in oneself.
This quote by Paramahansa Yogananda emphasizes the importance of directing our thoughts towards positive and beautiful aspects of life. By allowing ourselves to dwell on negativity or evil thoughts, we risk cultivating those very traits within us, leading to an unpleasant inner state. Conversely, if we consciously look for the good and beautiful in our surroundings and experiences, we will attract and embody those qualities, fostering inner beauty and positivity.
In practice
In a motivational speech about mental health and positivity.
Man is important in one sense only. He was made in the image of God: That is his importance. He is not important for his body, ego, or personality. His constant affirmation of ego-consciousness is the source of all his problems.
When, by meditation, we withdraw restless thoughts from the lake of the mind, we behold our soul, a perfect reflection of Spirit.
It is wisest to be impartial. If you have health, but are attached to it, you will always be afraid of losing it. And if you fear that loss, but become ill, you will suffer. Why not remain forever joyful in the Self?
From joy people are born; for joy they live; in joy they melt at death. Death is an ecstasy, for it removes the burden of the body and frees the soul of all pain springing from body identification. It is the cessation of pain and sorrow.
It is better to meditate a little bit with depth than to mediate long with the mind running here and there. If you do not make an effort to control the mind it will go on doing as it pleases, no matter how long you sit to meditate.
Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don't know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being robots, conditioned by their environment. True self-analysis is the greatest art of progress.
It's never what people do that makes us angry; it's what we tell ourselves about what they did.
Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is.
When our memories outweigh our dreams, it is then that we become old.
Civilized discourse demands critical thinking, self-reflexiveness, sober-headed analysis.
Maybe thatβs enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom...is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go. -Anthony Bourdain
Misfortune does not help us to believe.
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